Landslide-hit families in Sudlon II eyed for Cebu City’s housing program

Photo of the landslide affected area in Sitio Upper Cantipla in Barangay Sudlon II. | Photo courtesy of Councilor Jerry Guardo (File photo)

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Landslide-hit families in Sitio Cantipla in Barangay Sudlon II, a mountain barangay in Cebu City, may soon avail of the city’s housing program as a permanent “no build zone” policy is being enforced in their previous homes.

Harold Alcontin, Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) chief, said that aside from the 42 individuals displaced by the incessant rain-induced landslide in Sudlon II last June 26, 2023, the city’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) continues to profile 25 other households.

READ: Landslide-affected residents in Brgy Sudlon II, Cebu City told by MGB-7 to relocate

Landslide-hit families, danger zone

Alcontin said they plan to evacuate all families in the sitio who are living in the danger zone.

“I also asked the barangay captain to visit didto kay katong areas nga duol pa g’yud sa landslide, gusto pa sila nga mostay didto unya delikado naman jud,” Alcontin said in a press conference on Friday, July 7, 2023.

(I also asked the barangay captain to visit there because residents living near the landslide areas they still want to stay there and it is really dangerous to stay there.)

READ: DHSUD: Over 100,000 housing units due by 2024; 1 M units annually possible

Transitional homes for landslide-hit families

Aside from the Medium Rise Buildings of the city, Lawyer Jerone Castillo, special assistant to the mayor, also said that landslide affected residents in the city were being considered to avail of the transitional homes that the city is working to build at the South Road Properties (SRP).

“Ang among gitan-aw is katong transitional homes. Ang transitional homes hopefully mahuman na jud namo ang terms of preferences so that we will bid it out kay kung mabidding nato nato, easily we can probably…about a thousand families nga ma accommodate didto,” Castillo said.

(What we are looking is the transitional homes. Hopefully, the terms of preferences for the transitional homes so that we will bid it out because if we can bid them out, easily we can probably…we can accommodate about a thousand families.)

READ: ‘Task Force Gubat sa Baha’ tags 4K families encroaching the three-meter easement zone

5,000 for verification

The transitional homes project was created to accommodate families that would be displaced as the city reclaims the three-meter easement zone of the city’s tributaries.

Earlier, Castillo said about 5,000 people were already listed for this housing program, subject to verification.

The DWUP, he said, would conduct due diligence on the housing program if the landslide-affected families would be accommodated and if these families opt to relocate outside the barangay.)

READ: Mandaue City HUDO assures Brgy Looc fire victims of temporary housing

However, as of now, Alcontin said most of the displaced families in Sudlon are staying with their relatives, instead of staying in the designated temporary evacuation area in Sudlon Elementary School.

Quick response team

“Naa tay Quick Response Team 24 hours nga nagbantay didto kay nihangyo man gud sila nga ang ilang mga butang ilang panguhaon, unya di sila ka enter unless naay official nga mo facilitate,” he told reporters.

(We have a Quick Response Team who are securing the area there because they requested that they will get their things, and they cannot enter the area unless there is an official who will facilitate their entry.)

The MGB-7 recommended the transfer of residents away from the landslide-affected area in Sitio Upper Cantipla.

This was after the agency found out that the landslide-affected area in Sitio Upper Cantipla now “has a very steep to almost vertical slope which makes it “highly susceptible” to the occurrence of another landslide in the days to come.”

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